Investigations into Consumers Preferences Concerning Privacy: An Initial Step towards the Development of Modern and Consistent Privacy Protections around the Globe

Online privacy is becoming an increasingly important topic, and an increasingly controversial one. The EU is imposing strict limitations on the use of data obtained from its citizens' online activities [9], while Big Data advocates and online advertisers in the United States are concerned that this may represent interference in their basic business models or even in international trade [13]. It is clear that laws and regulations are inconsistent across national borders. They are also inconsistent within nations, depending on the industry classification of companies, or even the designation given to specific technologies. ISPs are prohibited from reading subscribers' email, other information services companies can do so legally. Data stored electronically is offered protection that is denied to data stored in the cloud. This paper proposes that regulatory confusion be addressed starting with some basic principles of uniformity. More importantly, it suggests that regulation be driven by what consumers actually want, and provides some preliminary research aimed at determining what consumers want from privacy regulation around the world.